He started out making beats in his bedroom, aged 16. Now 22, Tom Misch has evolved into an artist who traverses jazz, hip-hop and low-key funk, working with guest vocalists such as Loyle Carner and the members of De La Soul or, when singing himself, slotting snugly alongside peers such as King Krule and Cosmo Pyke.
Opening with the instrumental The Journey, his caramel-smooth blend of nu jazz and glossy beats instantly creates warmth. The band then lock in firmly around Misch’s melodic guitar noodling – a style that feels like lounge shredding. On I Wish, wobbly funk-strutting bass lines dance around Misch’s creamy guitar tone as his half-spoken vocals glide atop to forge something that is flush-tight and pristine but a little one-note. The violin-heavy Man Like You feels potent and poignant, but an instrumental of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely almost creates the sense of being in a GP’s waiting room, such is its overly soft, inoffensive skip.
Misch sounds like an artist who has trawled through the naffer sides of some record collections, then combined what he’s found with a love of J Dilla to forge something that speaks to young people (who make up the bulk of the crowd tonight). However, the naff occasionally remains and you are left with what feels like Mark Knopfler for the ketamine generation. The crowd imbibe it, nonetheless, and move along to the subtle euphoric bounce of We’ve Come So Far and the R&B-soaked Movie.
Misch’s musical proficiency and ear for melody is impressive, but over the course of 90 minutes the silk-smooth jazz-inflected grooves can veer from immersive to anaesthetising.
- At 02 Academy, Leeds, 5 March. Box office: 0113-389 1555. Then touring until 11 March.
